Today I’ve got something new to keep me busy on the blog – a stop on a blog book tour! I was invited to be a stop on the tour for Kara Gott Warner’s book It’s In the Bag, and how could I say no? Yesterday the Fitterknitter talked about shrugs with designer Colleen Smitherman, and tomorrow Lynn Hershberger will talk about striping and colour.

As for me, my original designer interview plans ended up not coming together, so instead I’m going to chat for a bit about some projects that caught my eye, and my overall impressions of the book. And keep reading to the end for a giveaway – because what would a blog tour be without giveaways?

Overall, this is a pretty diverse book. It is intended to showcase projects that can be easily accomplished on the go, or carried with you ‘in the bag.’ There are a range of projects from beginner basic to advanced techniques like cabling, mitered squares, even a bit of beading. There’s everything from scarves and hats to sleeveless tunics. The majority of yarns featured are recognizeable mainstream labels from North America and Europe, including Classic Elite, Mission Falls, Rowan, and Takhi Stacy Charles. There are plenty of options for kids, adults, and home knitting.

One of the projects that really caught my eye was the Uptown Chic Satchel by Cecily Glowik Macdonald, pictured above. I’ve not knitted many bags myself but I quite like the look of this one – the triangular shape at the sides would probably lend quite a bit of stability overall, and it’s worked in a bulky weight yarn (Classic Elite Duchess), which means a person probably could knit it on the go – perhaps even in a couple of bus rides! Sign me up for that.

I’m also a fan of one of the Harlequin Socks, by Kathryn Beckerdite, one of the few sock patterns in the book but no less attractive. These are shown in Plymouth Yarn Happy Feet, but I imagine they would look good knitted up in a variety of semi-solid or possibly slightly variegated yarns. Although the photo here doesn’t show the sides as well, there is a diamond pattern running up the side of each leg, adding a degree of interest/difficulty to the ribbing. I’m actually thinking of working up a pair of these in my holiday gift knitting.

So, dear readers, this is a book you may wish to keep on your radar if you are on the lookout for collections with manageable and diverse projects. It covers a lot of bases and would be a pretty approachable book even for the relative beginner knitter.

As a thank you to ‘blog tourists’, Kara has gifted me two drawstring Della Q bags to give away – one green, one pink. Just the right size for a small on the go project. To be eligible for one of these, please comment here and tell me about what your favourite project is to knit while you’re in transit! I’ll draw two winners at random on Wednesday evening at 5pm EST.

That’s all for today – happy knitting, and may your Monday be manageable.

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105 responses to “Book Review/Blog Tour: It’s in the Bag”

I love the look of that bag! I like to knit hats on the go — so quick and easy, plus 16″ circular needles are nice and stable. I tend to lose things off the end of straight needles and DPNs when I quickly stash things in my bag.

I think socks have to be the go-to on-the-go project for me. No big surprise there, but they fit easily into pretty much any bag I’m carrying, and a row here and there really add up to progress over a week or two!

I drive during my commute, so I’m not really able to knit, but on a plane trip a couple of weeks ago, I passed the time with a Noro striped scarf – easy and mindless, but still interesting to watch pass by.

Definately, plain ol’ vanilla socks. And I am a new fan of the after-thought heel…after a frustrating bout with a pooling handpaint. This really makes socks even more mindless for TTC/travel kntting! woot. lovely review!

i rarely travel with knitting but when i do, i take simple socks. compact, portable, and not too labor (or brain) intensive. i took a lace shawl on a trip once but never pulled it out b/c it required too much thinking.

Socks are so portable. When I’m on the run, I usually toss a pair of these into my bag. I can knit socks without referring to a pattern or chart, so they’re a perfect project when I need something small to keep my hands moving.

I drive to commute as well but always have a pair of socks on the go in both cars as well as my purse!! It’s amazing how much time you can spend in the drive-thru at Timmies. If I really want to confuse the muggles I’ll do some drop spindling in the drive-thru. Love the book reviews. Keep up the good work!!

Sleeves are my favourite in-transit project. They always feel like they take soooo long when you’ve already knit the body of the sweater, and they are small and easy to tuck into your purse (well, easier than the sweater itself). Plus, I feel like the sleeves whip right by since I can chisel away a few more inches to and from work! That green project bag is awesome, beats the pants of the big freezer ziplocks that I tend to use. :)

I take a commuter train, so as long as it’s not an entire afghan, and I can use circs so I don’t poke anybody, I’m pretty much good to go. I concentrate on easily memorized patterns as travel knitting. Of course, a lot of them end up being socks. 8~)

Will definitely have to keep that book in mind…made a note :) My go-project is usually socks, that way I have something for the carpool line, dance lessons, swim lessons, etc. Takes forever to get a pair this way though :)

Favorite in transit projects are those I can never seem to get done because I’m too easily distracted at home with lots of yarn and needles. It’s been a lace stole for the past few weeks, but now that’s done, so I brought legwarmers on the bus today.

My favorite commuting projects are lace shawls (usually once I’ve done a few repeats of the pattern so I have it memorized); they’re very lightweight and compact. I usually stick to simple patterns (Wisp, Ishbel) but have done more ambitious projects with nupps (very carefully!) while riding the train. I actually like the focus required for even simple lace projects; it wakes me up in the morning and helps me leave my work behind in the evening.

I used to take socks with me, although lately I cringe at the idea of squinting at fingering weight yarn on planes…the light is never bright enough. I’ve fallen for fingerless mitts….thicker yarn, larger stitches, and quickly completed.

I haven’t work a truly big project yet unless you consider a farosee type shawl very big.That being said I like projects small enough to fit in my purse so I tend to take socks though I have broken needles doing that or my squares for my sampler afghan they roll up fairly small on my circulars.

I’m generally taxi-ing my kids around when I’m in-transit and I try not to knit and drive! I like to knit scarves and shawls when I’m waiting for the kids to finish their activities. I should try socks again…

I almost always have a plain vanilla sock in my purse, perfect for unexpected delays. Hats make good travel knitting too, because they never get too unruly, even as they near completion. Cute travel bags! I like the look of those Harlequin socks, too! Thanks for the review.

These days, I love to knit scarves, as long as they’re constructed sideways! The back-and-forth of typical scarf knitting takes WAY TOO LONG. But sideways is a joy, really. One row takes about 30 minutes, and I’m that much closer to a finished scarf!

I’d pick between socks (most often), hats (on small circs) or a scarf on my knitting needles I got from the Klutz book on how to knit! They’re referred to as my ninja needles as they are short and 5mm in diameter, so they can knit anywhere! You can get lots knit on the trip between Ottawa and Toronto.

Since I work from home, transit knitting is not a priority, so I don’t have a great sample size for comparison. I also have a tendency to get VERY motion sick if I try to do things in the car like read, or any form of needlework. Knitting seems to be an exception though — yaaaay! I was actually able to work on two different projects the last few times we had a long road trip to tackle. I am optimistic about my being able to knit on car trips after the last few experiments.

At this point I’ve done a top down sweater on circs and a scarf project in the car. (As well as crocheted granny squares — the knitting was less nausea inducing, though.) I rarely travel by plane, so no samples there. I have the feeling that once I tackle socks though, they will become the default “transit/waiting time” project.

I’m gonna need a bigger purse. :( Or a really, really cool knitting bag that can double as one, that has pockets and stuff so I don’t loose my things into a tame black hole like I usually do! (There is a reason my purse is 6 x 8″ or so!)

I absolutely love that bag. Gorgeous! I usually like to knit up fingerless gloves or cozy hats when travelling. They are nice and compact and I love that even if I am knitting in between stops they usually have shorter rows so I can usually stop at the end of a row and not worry about what stitch I left off on in addition to which row I am on. :)

I usually do scarves — Edgar or just feather-and-fan, something I know well enough not to have to look at a pattern. I did dishcloths a lot last year (I have actually done the knitted lacy round dishcloth so many times that I can cast on and knit in the dark, which is a little freaky) but not in transit, since I knit off a cone of peaches-and-cream. Not the most transportable.

I knit either socks or dishcloths (especially at this time of the year for teacher gifts) when I am on-the-go (usually when my hubby is driving us somewhere – with four kids, I don’t often go too far where my hands are free to pick up the needles. I use two circulars for socks and a circular for dshcloths – more difficult for one of the munchkins to pull the neeldes out of the projects than with straight needles or DPN’s!

The Mason-Dixon dishcloth! It gets smaller as I go and I can churn one out in less than three hours. Though, I knit my first pair of socks on two circulars this week and those were a lot more portable than I would have expected.

Thanks for a great review – will be adding the book to my “list”! Love that bag. My current fav on the go project are the Maine Morning Mittens – am working up a number of them as Christmas gifts for my girlfriends.

anything on circs b/c i don’t feel like i’ll poke people like i do w/ regular needles – and i don’t drop needles like i do w/ dpns. this is my rush hour rule. need to minimize the amount of room i take it up – especially w/ the crowded seats.
late night/non-crowded trains – anything goess – preferably something a little more complicated to help keep me awake.

I actually like scarves. A pattern that is simple enough to remember (lots of easy four row texture stitches to choose from) and a yarn that is a light worsted of lighter means I can fit it in my bag and work on it at odd moments (and those odd moments add up to a scarf that I would have found too dull to knit). I love just pulling on both circular needle ends so the the stitches are on the cable and can’t drop off the needles. I can have my scarf stuffed away within seconds without ever fearing a dropped stitch.

My on-the-go knitting is almost always socks. And I’ll take them anywhere…3 weeks of canoe-camping in swamps, touring Ireland, car tripping for the day to visit the future-in-laws…no trip is safe. Plus-I’ve never had tiny bamboo dpns raise the curiosity of airport security.

My favorite transit project used to be socks, but I can’t seem to get into socks these days. Maybe part of the issue is I’ve not been knitting simple sock patterns anymore… So, my latest favorite transit project (and conference call project for that matter) is a shawl – damson – lots of garter stitch before you get to the lace border.

I like socks for their compact portability, but I also like a hat or scarf, as well (whatever can be done on smaller needles is good). Just working on my second pair of socks now, and it takes me forever and a day, but I’m enjoying the process.

I usually carry a sock project. Sometimes it will be a hat. I usually try to have something on circular needles after several episodes of dropping a double point and frantically searching for the lost needle.

Favourites transit patterns are plain stockinette socks (I can even knit them standing if I have to) and I like doing sleeves–since I don’t really like doing sleeves in general, I get them done when I’m not in prime knitting time.

Small simple 1 skein shawls have been a favourite on the go knitting this year – socks until I get to the gusset – still a newbie at socks so have to pay attention to this part of the pattern – very spiffy bag.

I am a fairly new knitter so I usually just take whats handy on my needles. Even though, i am 13 and my parents are divorced so I often times just take my bag everywhere because I have nothing else to put it in.

I usually have a simple scarf on the needles but the best thing for me to knit on the go is a discloth. It can be really mindless or just a super big practice swatch but either way its portable and useful.

I will take any project out with me. I have two small children and all their stuff to tote around so what’s one more thing :-) Plus if they both fall asleep in the car and we are not on a tight schedule I can just pull into a quiet parking lot and knit for a few.